Little Rock desegregation plans go back to court

FILE - In this Oct. 15, 1957 file photo, seven of nine black students walk onto the campus of Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., with a National Guard officer as an escort as other troops watch. More than a half-century after federal troops escorted nine black students into an all-white school, efforts to desegregate Little Rock's classrooms are at another turning point. The state wants to end its long-running payments for desegregation programs, but three school districts that receive the money say they need it to continue key programs. And a federal judge has accused the schools of delaying desegregation so they can keep receiving an annual infusion of $70 million. (AP Photo, Fred Kaufman, File)
— AP

FILE - In this Oct. 15, 1957 file photo, seven of nine black students walk onto the campus of Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., with a National Guard officer as an escort as other troops watch. More than a half-century after federal troops escorted nine black students into an all-white school, efforts to desegregate Little Rock's classrooms are at another turning point. The state wants to end its long-running payments for desegregation programs, but three school districts that receive the money say they need it to continue key programs. And a federal judge has accused the schools of delaying desegregation so they can keep receiving an annual infusion of $70 million. (AP Photo, Fred Kaufman, File)
/ AP

FILE - In this July 16, 2007 file photo, the image of Little Rock Central High School is reflected in a pond during a news conference in Little Rock, Ark. Nine black students desegregated the school in September 1957. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston, File)— AP

FILE - In this July 16, 2007 file photo, the image of Little Rock Central High School is reflected in a pond during a news conference in Little Rock, Ark. Nine black students desegregated the school in September 1957. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston, File)
/ AP

In this photo taken Sept. 15, 2011, Tiffany Hadden, center, helps her sons Cole, 9, left, and Connor, 6, with their homework in the Haddens' Little Rock, Ark., home. The two children are happy attending a Little Rock magnet school but the potential effect of a judge's ruling worries Mrs. Hadden. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)— AP

In this photo taken Sept. 15, 2011, Tiffany Hadden, center, helps her sons Cole, 9, left, and Connor, 6, with their homework in the Haddens' Little Rock, Ark., home. The two children are happy attending a Little Rock magnet school but the potential effect of a judge's ruling worries Mrs. Hadden. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
/ AP

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. 
More than a half-century after federal troops escorted nine black students into an all-white school, efforts to desegregate Little Rock's classrooms are at another turning point.

The state wants to end its long-running payments for desegregation programs, but three school districts that receive the money say they need it to continue key programs. And a federal judge has accused the schools of delaying desegregation so they can keep receiving an annual infusion of $70 million.

A federal appeals court will hear arguments Monday from both sides. The judges are expected to decide eventually whether Arkansas still has to make the payments and whether two of the districts should remain under court supervision.

The schools, which serve about 50,000 students, have come a long way since 1957, when the governor and hundreds of protesters famously tried to stop the Little Rock Nine from entering Central High School. But thousands of white and black children still have to be bused to different neighborhoods every day under one of the nation's largest remaining court-ordered desegregation systems.

Now parents are worried about the schools' future, and some are considering enrolling their children elsewhere.

The districts argue that desegregation should be about giving parents options between good schools, not strictly counting the number of white and black students.

"Anybody can put students on a bus," said Bobby Acklin, assistant superintendent for desegregation at the North Little Rock School District. "It doesn't matter to me who's in the school, as long as we have a good program."

State lawmakers have long derided the payments, and Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe and other officials have pushed to end the practice, too.

The battle over school desegregation persisted for decades after the civil rights movement. In 1982, the city schools sued two neighboring districts and the state for not doing enough to help with desegregation.

Two years later, a federal judge ruled that those districts had wrongfully separated white and black students. In 1989, the schools and the state reached a settlement that required large payments to the Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County districts. It is still in effect today.

Some Little Rock schools remain as segregated as the neighborhoods around them. And achieving racial balance is becoming more difficult as families leave the suburbs that supply white students to schools in majority-black city neighborhoods. Despite years of efforts, black students still score much lower on tests than white students.

The settlement did establish popular magnet schools in urban Little Rock, but the money has also been a source of constant controversy. District administrators have fought over how to spend the money. Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has alleged that the districts use desegregation funding elsewhere in their budgets.

In May, a federal judge accused the North Little Rock and Pulaski County districts of delaying desegregation to keep getting state money.

U.S. District Judge Brian Miller pointed to problems with student achievement and discipline, particularly in Pulaski County, a suburban district that takes in black students from Little Rock and North Little Rock and sends white children to both.